What do you watch for with dance videos?

I read an older thread recently about practicing dance & how much time folks devote to different forms of dance practice. One top-mentioned activity was watching dance videos. I'm curious what folks are watching for when they watch these social dance or performance videos with the intent of improving. As with anything, I'm sure you get better at it with time, so I'm curious what experienced people are watching for!

I like watching videos of social dancing for pleasure. I guess I go through phases and sometimes I can watch for hours at a time.

We don't have much salsa where I come from so maybe it's just to help fill that void.

It varies. Somtimes just because its fun. Othertimes i look for examples of what im working on. This way maybe i can find some hints as to what i am doing wrong

This week im looking at some complicated patterns. I hope to get better at seeing the basic core of these patterns.

I watch social dance videos to learn new combinations and moves or refresh old ones. Before I go social dancing I often pick up a pattern or two and try them on dance floor. If the execution of the pattern is not straightforward I go through it slowly by myself and when I feel like it could work I try to dance it socially.

I have done that for some time. There are limited number of basic moves which can combined differently, so new patterns and moves are basically just ways to combine basic moves differently.

Advantage of picking up patterns on social dancing videos is that they work in social dancing especially if the dancer you are copying from has bit similar style. If I cannot get some pattern to work I try to figure out what I am doing wrong.

I think what leaders are watching for and what you could watch for as a follower are pretty different.

I don't believe that as a follower you should try to learn basic moves from a social dancing video, you should get proper instruction.

I never look at what patterns the lead is doing; if the video is basically the follower being led through an endless series of restrictive moves or spins I skip it.

I occasionally watch a series of videos from one leader if his leading style is being discussed on these boards ie Milton Cobo is a recent example. There are things to learn by watching and comparing different leads style..ie can you recognise when the lead is moving you around versus leaving you in place and dancing around you.

When I first started watching social videos I basically worked through videos from all the big name followers; now I have a smaller list of followers with a style or musicality I like, and I mostly just re-watch these, and I watch the videos people post in the social dancing thread. I don't watch performances usually, but there are exceptions.

Mostly I watch for:

• How they interpret the music in partnerwork - what are the spaces and places they use, what kind of things do they do, what parts of their bodies are they using when, how are they interacting and using their partner at that point. In some cases, how is their footwork timing reflecting the music.
• What do I like and not like about the followers style and can I articulate why (note not styling - but everything about how they move). I very occasionally might consciously pick an element I like to try on the dance floor, but mostly I just let it brew and I guess it influences how I dance eventually.
• How they interpret the music in shines - here I might download the video and try and copy bits and pieces if the sound quality and video quality is good enough.
• I also watch how they interact with their partner in shines and partnerwork.

petteri said:

Advantage of picking up patterns on social dancing videos is that they work in social dancing especially if the dancer you are copying from has bit similar style. If I cannot get some pattern to work I try to figure out what I am doing wrong.

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That's very true!